Transient Explorer

What am I looking at?

Every night the Rubin (LSST) and ZTF telescopes image the sky and flag anything that changed since last time: a supernova going off, a star flaring, an asteroid passing through. Each flag is an alert. The Fink broker classifies them, and this site shows what they are and where.

Pages

  • Dashboard: how many alerts and objects arrived in a window, what kinds, where on the sky, and the brightest new supernova candidates.
  • Sky: the map. Most of what follows is about it.
  • Objects: the same objects as a table you can sort, filter by the broker's label or TNS type, and page through; click one for its light curve and images.
  • Tonight: a planner for your telescope. Pick your site and telescope, and it lists the supernovae, novae and new objects seen this week that are above your horizon while it is dark and bright enough to see, sorted by when each is best placed, with finder charts, a CSV export and a printable list.

Search

  • An object id (ZTF26abvkmbu, a Rubin id, or the first few characters), a TNS name (SN 2026abc), coordinates (35.71 -4.75 or 02:22:50 -04:45:00, add r=10' for a radius), a deep-drilling field (COSMOS), a class (SN Ia, EclBin) or any name astronomers use (M31).

On the map: zoom to go deeper

  • Whole sky (wider than 20°): a heatmap of how many objects were seen in each patch of sky.
  • Region (1°–20°): a finer heatmap plus numbered badges. The number is the count of objects, the color is their most common class, and a white ring means something new in the last night.
  • Objects (under 1°): one dot per object. A white ring means it was seen last night, and a white center means it has been detected only once so far. Click a dot for its light curve, classification and images.

Drag to pan, scroll or pinch to zoom, or click a badge to zoom into it.

Filters

  • Window: how far back to look, from last night to a year.
  • Active / new: objects detected in the window, or only those first seen in it.
  • Class: most alerts are solar-system objects (asteroids). Pick Non-Solar System to hide them and see what else is out there.
  • Brightness (≤ 20, ≤ 18, ≤ 16): only objects at least that bright. Smaller magnitudes are brighter. An object marked faded was last seen fainter than in the survey's reference image, so it has no brightness of its own and counts only under any mag.
  • History (2+ nights, …): only objects seen on several nights, which filters out one-off artifacts.

Observing from your site

  • Your site: an observatory from the list, or your latitude and longitude (typed, or Use my location). A position is rounded to half a degree, and the site is remembered in this browser only.
  • Object panel: when the object is up tonight, its altitude through the night with the moon, the next 60 nights, and a Finder chart with a link to AAVSO's comparison stars.
  • Objects: Visible from… keeps what is above your limit in tonight's dark window, with when and how high.
  • Sky: Observer… shades what is below your horizon at a time you pick; the counts do not change.

Dark means the sun more than 12° below the horizon (18° if you choose). Positions ignore refraction and precession, a few tenths of a degree: enough to plan, not to point.

Classes

  • SN candidate
  • AGN / nuclear
  • Variable star
  • Solar system
  • Cataloged
  • Unknown
  • Low reliability
  • Other

The data is refreshed nightly. Every view is a link: on the map the URL records the position, zoom, filters and selected object, so Copy link shares exactly what you see.

Made by jgriz

Objects

Objects
Survey
Bucket
Clear
751–800 of 255,900 · All objects seen in the 7 nights
ObjectClassLast magPeakFirst seenLast seenNightsAlertsRel.RA, DecPartner
ZTF ZTF26abxsycq Tracklet17.16 r17.162026-09-262026-09-26110.97144.5229, 3.4002
ZTF ZTF26abxsycr Tracklet17.34 r17.342026-09-262026-09-26110.45144.5819, 3.3867
ZTF ZTF26abxsycs Tracklet17.33 r17.332026-09-262026-09-26110.22144.6158, 3.3791
ZTF ZTF26abxsyct Tracklet17.28 r17.282026-09-262026-09-26110.42144.5396, 3.3962
ZTF ZTF17aacksmt RRLyrae19.16 r17.922017-12-012026-09-2625311.00150.6473, 25.2473
ZTF ZTF17aaclcqr RRLyraefaded r14.832017-11-212026-09-2654721.00148.5539, 29.6513
ZTF ZTF17aaclcto RRLyraefaded r16.362017-11-192026-09-2621221.00149.4681, 23.7976
ZTF ZTF17aaclorw RRLyrae16.35 r16.352017-11-192026-09-2655631.00151.3518, 23.5575
ZTF ZTF17aacmhwe RRLyraefaded r17.502017-11-192026-09-2632341.00150.9202, 26.4301
ZTF ZTF17aadprpw RRLyraefaded r17.532017-10-282026-09-26711261.00147.0982, 27.0282
ZTF ZTF18aabkgpb EclBinfaded r—2018-01-112026-09-26891.00153.4333, 22.6840
ZTF ZTF18aahpisp Unknownfaded r—2017-10-282026-09-26841471.00148.5667, 26.8439
ZTF ZTF18acgwhct Unknown17.00 r16.682017-12-182026-09-2636431.00148.9047, 26.5715
ZTF ZTF18adojthd Seyfert118.28 r18.282018-05-242026-09-2625331.00149.5448, 25.6788
ZTF ZTF19aailafk Unknown18.39 r18.392018-12-032026-09-26111.00149.2361, 23.7218
ZTF ZTF20aanpyxx QSO18.99 r18.782018-11-062026-09-26811241.00147.7450, 26.5736
ZTF ZTF25aayqpek Unknown18.80 r18.802019-06-062026-09-26110.95151.6065, 23.4838
ZTF ZTF26abxsvii Solar System MPC18.17 r18.172026-09-262026-09-26111.00150.6204, 22.6343
ZTF ZTF26abxsvmj Solar System MPC15.62 r15.622026-09-262026-09-26111.00153.0075, 23.4237
ZTF ZTF26abxsvou Solar System MPC18.35 r18.352026-09-262026-09-26111.00152.0991, 25.9650
ZTF ZTF26abxsvqt Solar System MPC16.86 r16.862026-09-262026-09-26111.00151.7692, 23.0344
ZTF ZTF26abxsvsg Solar System MPC18.42 r18.422026-09-262026-09-26111.00150.4182, 23.8866
ZTF ZTF26abxsvtk Solar System MPC17.79 r17.792026-09-262026-09-26111.00147.6210, 28.9294
ZTF ZTF26abxsvut Solar System MPC15.62 r15.622026-09-262026-09-26111.00148.6492, 23.3315
ZTF ZTF26abxsvwv Solar System MPC18.71 r18.712026-09-262026-09-26111.00154.0254, 22.6702
ZTF ZTF26abxswlx Solar System MPC18.43 r18.432026-09-262026-09-26111.00152.6848, 24.6139
ZTF ZTF26abxswlz Unknownfaded r—2020-02-262026-09-26110.77152.9828, 24.5813
ZTF ZTF26abxsxot Solar System MPC18.61 r18.612026-09-262026-09-26111.00148.0681, 24.9456
ZTF ZTF17aaajere RRLyraefaded r17.112017-12-142026-09-2658761.00140.1423, 12.0249
ZTF ZTF17aaajeya RRLyrae17.31 r16.202017-12-142026-09-26711101.00142.4766, 12.6244
ZTF ZTF17aaajeyq EclBin17.72 r17.172017-12-142026-09-2642621.00140.8749, 9.0744
ZTF ZTF18aaacizs RRLyrae18.00 r16.352017-12-152026-09-2673961.00143.6389, 10.6314
ZTF ZTF18aaagwdw RRLyraefaded r16.742018-01-112026-09-26711131.00145.7610, 8.5539
ZTF ZTF18aaahqgz EclBinfaded r—2017-12-152026-09-2613191.00140.5794, 9.4815
ZTF ZTF18aabsonv LongPeriodV*faded r15.822017-12-182026-09-26641101.00140.4955, 14.7757
ZTF ZTF18aabusqt Unknownfaded r—2018-03-062026-09-2626331.00146.7160, 10.9300
ZTF ZTF18acgvjbd UnknownAT 2019zrt14.89 r14.852018-04-022026-09-2611121.00145.8740, 9.1631
ZTF ZTF18aciczcf Unknownfaded r—2018-11-122026-09-2625291.00143.3755, 10.9447
ZTF ZTF18aciczel Unknownfaded r—2018-11-122026-09-26110.99143.5818, 10.8492
ZTF ZTF18acpdbbk Unknownfaded r—2018-11-172026-09-26110.02145.1111, 11.0034
ZTF ZTF18adazfxt Unknownfaded r17.952018-12-282026-09-2617191.00146.4000, 8.2438
ZTF ZTF19aajbvti EclBin18.41 r18.112019-02-092026-09-2614141.00140.6333, 12.1799
ZTF ZTF19aajfxtl Unknownfaded r—2019-02-092026-09-26110.69141.3184, 12.5796
ZTF ZTF19aajlseu Unknown17.99 r17.952019-02-102026-09-2614151.00142.7625, 10.3985
ZTF ZTF20aavplde Solar System MPC18.30 r18.302020-04-232026-09-26111.00145.4190, 8.7231
ZTF ZTF25aabqsum Unknownfaded r—2018-02-242026-09-26110.69141.3392, 8.6075
ZTF ZTF25aadsxac Seyfert118.39 r18.392018-05-252026-09-26441.00140.3808, 13.8469
ZTF ZTF25aalbkgj Unknownfaded r—2018-11-032026-09-26331.00141.3692, 12.0961
ZTF ZTF26abxsvki Solar System MPC15.16 r15.162026-09-262026-09-26111.00142.6533, 14.5141
ZTF ZTF26abxsvkj Solar System MPC16.91 r16.912026-09-262026-09-26111.00142.7974, 14.0800